From basketball to tennis and even volleyball. So far in 2013, a lot more than 70 professional athletes go down already and there are thousands of amateur athletes every year who're taken to a healthcare facility because of ankle injuries.
Assistance is on the way!
By means of Ektio shoes.
Ektio shoes are doctor invented, clinically tested athletic shoes designed specifically to ward off ankle sprains. Developed by the noted doctor, Dr. Barry Katz and a team of orthopedists and podiatrists these shoes make use of a special technology to prevent ankle sprains.
This Nyc startup has patented a shoe with two inner straps, which will make the foot and also the shoe one out of minimizing movement in the shoe. Your ankle won't turn.
This is what Dr. Katz explained prevents ankle sprains.
"We connect the foot and shoe together so it doesn't roll."
Katz asserted creating a high end basketball shoe is tougher than it looks.
"It had to have all the attributes of a regular basketball shoe- performance, fit, comfort and add some safety component," explains Katz. "Most importantly, Ektio shoes don't restrict what you can do to play basketball."
Dr. Katz says Ektio shoes are better than braces, much better than wraps.
"Just go to a sports wraps and braces trade show. There really are a thousand different braces and the like, if a person of them worked, there wouldn't be so many different options, it's telling"
On board with Dr. Katz in this venture are former NBA player John Starks and Basketball Hall of Fame member Rick Barry.
Barry, that has seen everything when it comes to basketball injuries, saw and tried the shoe, after which gave it to his youngest son, who had been in senior high school at the time.
"My son wore them and in one instance he came down hard, landing on the foot of some other player," says Barry. "He was protected, a doctor checked out him afterwards and said he might have broke his ankle if he wasn't wearing these shoes."
Barry says another byproduct of these shoes is the fact that Ektio wearers say they are shooting the ball better when wearing these shoes.
"There is certainly not else on the market enjoy it," explains the NBA legend. "It will minimize games lost due to injury, they look good, and this new model is easier to put on."
Ektio can also be looking to take fraxel treatments past the basketball court.
Dr. Katz says that they're looking at other sports as well as placing we've got the technology in military tactical books, since ankle sprains would be the number 1 injury in out armed forces. Firefighters and first responders are other natural markets for Ektio.
To go along with his work preventing sprained ankles, Dr. Katz thinks exactly the same technology might be applied to football helmets and possible be an answer to the concussion problem that is such a hot button issue in the NFL.
"Your head wasn't meant to wear head gear," adds Dr. Katz. "Just such as the shoes affix to the foot, the helmet has to affix to the skull.
As a neuroradiologist, Dr. Katz might be on to something, and the powers that be, may want to listen.